Could Your Home Renovations Affect Your Insurance?
Change is inevitable when you’re a homeowner: Structures age, styles change, families expand, and new safety concerns arise. Even if you’ve been expecting to renovate for a while, the planning process can be complicated.
Juggling building code requirements, changes in resale value, time constraints, and budgeting concerns makes it easy to forget to consider changes to your home insurance premium. If you are contemplating any of these common home renovations, consider these tips from Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent Michael Cross.
Adding Square Footage
Adding square footage to accommodate your spouse’s mother in her old age or building the nursery that your next child needs increases the resale value of your home. That will mean an increase in coverage too.
“If you do an add-on [and] increase the value of the home, you would need to increase the dwelling coverage to account for that increase in square footage,” Cross says.
Buildings Pools and Hot Tubs
Adding these popular outdoor entertainment features to your home can be so exciting that you may forget to consider the extra liability that comes with them.
“If you put a pool in, you really need to think about increasing your liability limit and making sure you take some safeguards,” Cross says.
Consider these safety measures when you’re installing.
Adding a Deck or Arbor
When adding a deck, remember that there are limits to the extensions you can make and still keep the same premium you currently have.
“You’ll have a 10 percent extension of your dwelling coverage for other structures,” Cross says. “So if you do build something like that, you want to make sure it doesn’t go past that 10 percent of other structures insurance coverage so that you’re not underinsured if something were to happen to it. If it did exceed the 10 percent extension of your dwelling coverage, we can increase that extension of coverage.”
Replacing Your Roof
Because installing higher-quality shingle or metal roofing could reduce the likelihood of damage during the next storm, it could qualify you for a reduction in your property insurance premium.
“The metal is harder to damage in a hailstorm, so the amount of losses that we’ll see in a metal roof compared to a composition shingle roof is a whole lot less,” says Cross. “That’s why we offer a discount.” Class 4, impact-resistant shingles also qualify for a discount.
When the time for home renovations comes knocking on your door, speak to your Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent about the changes you plan to make and the materials you want to use. “The best thing to do is always keep your Agent in the loop. Let them know about what’s going on so that they can advise you the best way that they can,” Cross says.
Schedule a 360 Review with your Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent for a full assessment of potential changes to your coverage as you enter a new phase of life or take on new projects.
Coverage and discounts are subject to qualifications and policy terms and may vary by situation. © 2019 Texas Farm Bureau Insurance
